When a patient/doctor is going to be using a catheter or a similar device to drain fluids from the body, dislodgment of the catheter at the stoma site can significantly increase the risk of infection and irritation to the surrounding skin. Thus, various solutions have been proposed to retain a catheter in place at the patient. For example, for a bladder Mitrofanoff surgery, a Foley catheter leaves an inflated balloon-like device inside the bladder and can cause bladder spasms as it hits or comes in contact with the interior wall of the bladder. The Foley Catheter remains stationary within the bladder and cannot be removed until the balloon-like device is deflated. It works well to keep the stoma passageway open while it heals and allows the bladder to be drained. However, a major disadvantage to the patient is that the balloon-like device in the bladder can, and often does in a large majority of patients, cause major bladder spasms during the time that it remains in place. Bladder spasms because of the presence of the Foley Catheter and its inflated balloon-like device are well known to cause frequent, if not continuous levels of extreme discomfort and pain in most if not all patients who must undergo this on-going and preferably temporary medical procedure.
There are some types of other catheter stabilizers, but they are not placed over the stoma site which gives ample opportunity for the catheter to be accidentally or otherwise inadvertently pulled out of the bladder or stoma passageway. These types of devices tend to provide only a partial solution and fall short due to inherent limitations of their designs. Taping the catheter down directly to the surface of the skin is typically required, but this is not an adequate or long-term solution for patients needing to drain a bladder manually over an extended period of time, which is generally defined by the particular instance or length of the healing process of each particular patient. If the installed catheter is not closely monitored or otherwise carefully guarded, it may easily and inadvertently become mechanically pulled-on or get caught on something. In severe cases, it will rip out causing extreme pain, possible infection, irritation of the skin, and a possible revision or emergency repair surgery. The known L-stint procedure offers some degree of remedy to the problem of stomal stenosis, but the bladder is not able to be drained without the use of a second additional catheter. Every time the patient needs to be catheterized, a brand-new catheter needs to be used to perform the catheterization and another second additional catheter is used to create a new L-stint.